Articles, opinions, and observations from a Baptist pastor in West Virginia

Monday, June 29, 2015

Thank You Matt Shamblin

Yesterday, Matt Shamblin accepted the call of Rose Hill
Baptist Church of Ashland, Kentucky to serve that congregation as their Senior
Pastor.

This West Virginia pastor truly has mixed emotions in light
of this development.

As a 35 year resident of Ashland, myself, I am thrilled that
the Lord has opened this wonderful door of opportunity for Matt to advance the
cause of Christ in our city. I have
many close personal friends at Rose Hill, and my younger son and his family are
members of that great church. Two of my
grandsons were baptized there and both are actively involved in their Student and
Children’s Ministry groups. I am
thankful that my family members will have the blessing this godly young man,
who has a pastor’s heart, as their undershepherd. There is no doubt in my mind that Matt, Chrissy and the girls
will be a great asset to Rose Hill church in particular, and to the Ashland
community in general.

On the other side of the coin, I am saddened for our State
Convention at our loss that will result from Matt's coming departure. He has grown to love West Virginia, and served us admirably at Good
Shepherd, North Charleston, and (interim) at Witcher Baptist Churches. In his last few years as our Director of
Evangelism, his love for lost people and zeal for evangelism has been evident,
and he has been a true asset helping our pastors and churches as we seek to
penetrate lostness in the Mountain State.

At the end of last year, he was called upon to take on a
responsibility that he did not seek.
Following the retirement of our State Executive Director, the hand of
God was evident in the events leading up to bringing Matt into the position as
Interim State Exec.

Saying that he inherited a very difficult situation would be
an understatement.

Financially our State Convention was in a free fall. Over the past few years Cooperative Program
giving from the churches had taken a nose dive. At the end of 2014 our State Convention coffers were nearly totally
depleted. In that twelve month period alone, our Convention’s deficit totaled
$167,803.07. Only two months in 2014
saw us finish in the black with overages of $13,287.27 (March) and $3,721.57
(August). We were literally on the
verge of bankruptcy.

In January Matt gave the State Convention Executive Board a
clear and transparent report of there the WVCSB was financially and it was a
scary picture. He told them where we
were, how we got there, and what was needed if we hoped to survive as a state
convention. He encouraged those board
members to ask questions and to be informed.
Most importantly he encouraged them to join him in seeking God’s face
for our needs in this state. He
encouraged the Exec Board to be catalysts in casting the vision for the future
of the WVCSB. He also apologized for
the times when board members felt anxiety or stress in feeling that they could
not ask questions of state convention leadership. He stressed transparency, and the need for all of us to work
together in order to rebuild trust and unity.

Thus far in 2015 we see the financial trend reversing. Over the past four months we are $49,265.10
to the good, with only a $712.35 deficit taken in the month of March. Furthermore, during Matt’s tenure, our
Finance Committee has hammered out a new proposed budget that hopefully will
keep our positions funded and actually increase the percentage of CP dollars
that West Virginia will pass along to International and North American Missions
and the other SBC entities.

Matt has been instrumental in re-building bridges and
relationships, beginning with the State Office staff, and with our associations
and churches. One would have to have
had their head in the sand to not be aware of the deep division that has
existed in our State Convention for the past five years or so. An “us against them” mentality has been an
ugly undertone that has fractured fellowship among many, caused some churches
to reallocate giving, and hampered the Kingdom work here. Matt has gone above and beyond the call of
duty in trying to bring transparency and trust to a higher level between the
state office and our associations and churches. His efforts have been well received. He has offered to go and speak to each association and any church
who wanted to know more about the financial update and the condition of the
WVSBC. My understanding is that he has
been welcomed in all of our associations except one.

I first became acquainted with Matt several years ago, in a
situation when he and I had opposing viewpoints on a particular issue. Nothing doctrinal, please understand, but involving
methodology. Each of us felt strongly
about our particular viewpoint. He made
a trip to my office and we spent a couple of hours in deep conversation and
closed with prayer. We agreed to
respectfully disagree on the particular issue, but out of that meeting a
friendship was born, as well as a mutual respect for one another and our respective desire to work together as we could for the
cause of Christ. I value his friendship
deeply, and I do hate to see him leave our convention, but I also thrill to
know that God has opened another door of ministry for Matt and his family. I pray that he will realize much success for
the sake of the Name!

I believe that the West Virginia Convention owes a strong
debt of gratitude to Matt Shamblin for his faithful service to the Lord and the
churches of our state. It hasn’t been
easy for him, and he has actually faced some opposition along the way, but he
has been faithful to the task, and I believe he has left our convention in much
better shape than he found it when he was placed in that position of trust.

Thank you, Matt, for your service to the Lord in our
state, and Godspeed in your new field of service.

1 comment:

Well said C.J.Matt has done an excellent job in very trying circumstances and would have made an outstanding State EX. but evidently God had other plans to bless him and his family. So i rejoice in his call and pray God will mightily bless Matt and hid church. God bless you Matt Ron McCoy

C.J. Adkins

Good News!

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (ESV)

About Me

Born 1950, Holden, WV. Third generation Baptist Pastor. Senior Pastor of Westmoreland Baptist Church, Huntington, WV. Husband of Linda Bowling, (since June 19, 1971), father of Jay and Benji, Papaw of Quint, Will, Canon, Asher, and Nathaniel. Friend and Father in Law of Michelle and Leigh Anne. Past President of the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists. Marshall University Thundering Herd Fan. Founder and President of Beacon Ministries, Inc. Hobbies - Golf, writing, and Grandchildren.

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